How could you?
by MynameisInu
Summary: Draco has to walk away from Hermione because his father has broken out of jail and is coming after him. He needs to be able to keep Hermione safe. He goes to talk to her one day and everything falls apart. Now Draco is in a fight against time and his father to save his love and set everything right again. He will have to make new friends and set aside the past. Rated T for now.
When I started this story it was going in a WHOLE different direction. As i read it over and over again I found that I like this plot much better.

As per usual, I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS.

It may be awhile before i update but i will try my hardest. I have a very happy two year old that I have to take care of. This is a very edited version of a story that I have since removed from the site. I hope that you enjoy.

He had killed a part of her when he walked away but he forced himself to put one foot in front of the other.

"HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME!?" Hermione yelled as he walked away from the Gryffindor table in the great hall. Dinner was over and the hall was almost empty minus a teacher and a few students.

Draco didn't turn around when he heard her yell. This was something he had to do, she could never know but it was for her own good. He closed his eyes as he walked away, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall from his own eyes. The last two years had been the most amazing of his life but after the letter he received that morning from his mother, he had to cut all ties.

"How…How…" was all he could hear through the heartbroken sobs that wracked her body.

"Miss Granger" a professor put a hand of her shoulder but she shook it off and fell to her knees. "Let's get you up to bed"

"NO. I WON'T GO" she shouted at the teacher

The professor looked at another student and muttered "Go find Harry and Ron."

"I know it hurts Hermione" he said to her. With those words came another memory, she saw Draco over her the first they had made love, she had cried as he entered her but she had never felt more safe. A new wave of tears flowed down her cheeks at the memory. The teacher gave up and left her there on the great hall floor as the candles slowly died. Hermione muttered a spell to cloak herself from anyone passing by. The tears didn't stop until after midnight. Hermione still lay in the great hall looking up at the enchanted ceiling. Another memory pushed its way to the surface. The night that her and Draco had snuck out of bed and laid on one of the house tables and did this very thing. As the sun began to peak they make love again and ran out as the first student came in for breakfast. New tears began to form, no matter how hard she fought them they fell.

"Miss Granger?" a male voice called her name and in her haze of grief she sat up and called out

"Draco"

"Granger" she heard Snape's voice enter the hall.

"You're not him" she wrapped her arms tightly around herself and wished him away.

"You need to come with me" He knelt by her and extended his hand but she took no notice of him at all.

She saw a silvery figure come from Snape's wand before he bent over and retrieved her from the floor. Snape carried her like a child because Hermione gave up, she didn't have the fight in her any more He walked briskly with Hermione's limp body in his arms. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying as they entered the hospital wing.

"Where did you find her?" Albus asked when Snape gently laid her in a bed.

"In the great hall. She was lying on the floor with a cloaking spell." He stepped away from the bed hovering near the door. The nurse muttered a few spells to find what was wrong with her. "Where are Potter and Weasley?"

"Still looking." Albus responded quietly "Find Draco will you? Find out what happened" Snape nodded quickly and left.

"She is healthy. Just heartbroken" The nurse said to the headmaster. She bowed out leaving Hermione and Dumbledore alone.

"You must not let this define you. He will know soon what a mistake he is making by giving you up" He muttered to her. "He does love you Hermione…" was the last thing she heard from the headmaster before he was gone.

Snape found Draco sitting in the darkest corner of the kitchens gripping the letter, reading the words over and over again.

"What happened? i thought you were going to marry that girl"

"He broke out of jail, he is going to find me here and I can't have her hurt." Draco handed the letter to Snape. He read it over slowly and handed it back.

"You have to tell her."  
"No. She'll say that we can get through anything but she don't know him. She doesn't know that he will kill her just for loving me." Draco hung his head in his hands. Snape sighed and walked away. He had to find a way to protect Draco and by extension, Hermione.

Three days passed before Hermione could go back to classes. Not a word had passed her lips since that night. Her Friends and teaches grew more and more worried about her. for Hermione Every place in the castle held a painful memory. After a few days everyone got used to seeing her cry while walking to her next class. The only person that Hermione did not see was Draco, the one person that she needed, the one that she needed to take her sadness and rage out on.

"Hermione, please eat something" Harry urged her. She took a piece of toast and and nibbled the edge, giving him an annoyed look. She finished the toast, knowing she wouldn't get any peace until she did, and left the great hall.

"Hermione" She turned and looked back at Harry. He wasn't looking at her, rather past her to the blond standing at the door. She turned slowly and locked eyes with him.

"Can we take a walk?" He reached out for her. She stared at him in disbelief. "Please Mione. I need to talk to you" Hermione gave the smallest nod and they walked out of the hall and up the stairs until they reached the tallest tower, where it all started for them.

"How could you just leave me like that? Like i meant nothing to you."

"You...you mean everything to me. Something has happened and I need you safe." Draco moved to hold her but she stepped away, towards the edge of the tower.

"Tell me what happened. Tell me what was so bad that you threw away two years of us, of our love."

"I can't tell you. You just need to trust me and know that i am doing this for our own safety." He watched as a certain calm come over her face. her lips turned up at the edges and when she spoke it was calm.

"That's not good enough, Draco" She tried to push past him but he grabbed her arm.

"I need it to be good enough. Don't try and fix this, Hermione. I can't have you harmed." He looked into her eyes and knew something was wrong when they were out of focus. She wasn't looking at him or anything.

"You should have told me when you had the chance." she broke his grasp on her arm, dropped her books and walked towards the edge of the tower.

"What are you doing Hermione?" he turned her around looking into her eyes. she still had that glazed look that Draco had seen before but he couldn't remember where.

"I'm ending my pain" she whispered so low that Draco had to strain his ears to hear her. It took Draco a second to realize what she was going to do. He lunged towards her, grabbing her hand as her body hung hundreds of feet from the ground.

"I can't let you, Hermione. I love you" Draco tried to pull her up but she wouldn't let him get a good enough hold. He tried using magic but no spell would hold because he was to focused on her. "I was just scared Hermione. My fear got the best of me. Just let me pull you over and I will tell you everything.

"It too late for that Draco" It wasn't Hermione's voice that he heard but a male voice behind him. He knew at once who it was. It was in that same moment that he remembered where he had seen the glazed look in her eyes before. She had been charmed with an unforgivable curse and his father had cast it.

"let me pull her up! Please, I'll leave with you and never see her again but don't let her die" he didn't have to look at the man to know that he wouldn't do what he was asking no matter how much he begged. As he looked into Hermione's eyes they cleared and a new kind of fear clouded them. she began to thrash, gripping Draco's hand.

"Pull me up! please!" she screamed. Draco grabbed both her hands in his but before he could get her over the edge and back on solid ground a pair of strong arms gripped his tightly, weakening his grip.

"This is what you get for loving a mudblood!" he twisted his wrist back, causing his grip to falter even more. Their eyes locked for just a moment and in it every moment of the last two years was shared. Their love, laughter, plans for the future and every moment in between flashed. A life never lived died in her eyes.

"I love you Draco" she began to cry because she knew what was coming next.

"I will find a way to bring you back. I promise" he couldn't hold on very much longer "I love you and death will not stop me" with a sharp crack his left arm broke and his hands were forced to release hers. The scream that echoed through the grounds was heard by all and forgotten by none in the days that followed.


End file.
